The document discusses content strategy using metaphors from horror themes, portraying challenges like resistance to change as 'undead' entities such as zombies and ghosts. It emphasizes understanding these obstacles and suggests practical strategies for overcoming them by aligning content plans with organizational goals. Various supernatural figures symbolize different types of resistance and methods for engagement and adaptation in content management.

1. @billswallow #LavaCon
Content Strategy vs. The Undead
Bill Swallow
Scriptorium Publishing

2. Content strategy vs.
Flickr: micadew
@billswallow

3. Bill Swallow
@billswallow
Technical Consultant Scriptorium Publishing
www.scriptorium.com My interests:
Content strategy
Implementation
Localization
@billswallow

4. Why the undead?
Flickr: Ray Dumas
@billswallow

5. Why the undead?
@billswallow
Many reasons for implementing a content strategy
Many facets
Many impediments
Not unlike battling the undead
They JUST... WON'T... DIE!!!

6. Zombies
Flickr: Elena Gatti
@billswallow

7. Zombies
@billswallow
Mindless
Clumsy, slow moving
Uncommunicative
Destructive
Contagious

8. Zombies in our world
Wikipedia
@billswallow

9. Zombies in our world
@billswallow
Unbudging attitude Unrelenting will to preserve the status quo Continue to repeat the same actions Prefer mindless tedium Resistant to change

10. They're not ALL bad
Flickr: Terror on Tape
@billswallow

11. They're not ALL bad
@billswallow
Sometimes they're just misunderstood
They may have good intentions
They may have reasons for resisting change

12. Tips for survival
Flickr: Kenny Louie
@billswallow

13. Tips for survival
@billswallow
DON'T shoot them in the head Feed their needs while keeping the bigger picture in mind Find what drives them and harness that in your strategy

14. Vampires
Wikipedia
@billswallow

15. Vampires
@billswallow
Blood-suckers
Charismatic
Fear daylight

16. Charismatic life-drainers
Wikipedia
@billswallow

17. Charismatic life-drainers
@billswallow
Two distinct varieties: Someone in your organization who has a different plan A VERY persistent vendor Both fear being exposed of their shortcomings

18. Your tools for success
Flickr: Theodore Scott
@billswallow

19. Your tools for success
@billswallow
Always be prepared (do your homework)
Have a strategy rooted in your company's core goals
The “stake through the heart”: shift the focus back to the core intent/benefit of the strategy
Shed light on the subject to drive them back

20. Mummies
Flickr: Rocco Lucia
@billswallow

21. Mummies
@billswallow
Relentless Shambling but determined Guardians of the past Product of a curse or past desire

22. Dedicated and determined
Wikipedia
@billswallow

23. Dedicated and determined
@billswallow
Advocates of existing tools or workflows
Vocal or silent
Summoned by impending change

24. Wikimedia: Lysippos
Lift the mummy's curse
@billswallow

25. Lift the mummy's curse
@billswallow
Combat them with fulfillment
Acknowledge past successes
Kill them with kindness

26. Frankenstein's creature
Wikipedia
@billswallow

27. Frankenstein's creature
@billswallow
Cobbled together from bits and pieces
Has a mind of its own
Misunderstood
A product of science

28. Creator vs. creature
Wikimedia: Deckard97
@billswallow

29. Creator vs. creature
@billswallow
If not for Victor Frankenstein, the creature would not exist
Misuse of knowledge and technology
You may not always be able to control what you create

30. “We belong dead”
Wikipedia
@billswallow

31. “We belong dead”
@billswallow
If you have creatures of your own to wrangle, include them in your strategy
Try not to create more of them
You're a content strategist, not a mad scientist

32. Ghosts
Flickr: Nesster
@billswallow

33. Ghosts
@billswallow
Spirits, spectres, apparitions...
Things that haunt us
Often unsettling
Potentially hazardous

34. Mistakes and regrets
Wikipedia
@billswallow

35. Mistakes and regrets
@billswallow
We carry our ghosts with us
Echos of the past
“Would have/could have/should have”
Unfinished past projects
Past mistakes

36. Keep them in check
Flickr: relux.
@billswallow

37. Keep them in check
@billswallow
Don't give in to regret
Don't beat yourself up
Be confident in the direction you've chosen
Adapt your strategy over time
Don't be afraid of no ghost!

38. Your own Mystery, Inc.
Flickr: Pat Loika
@billswallow

39. Be your own Mystery, Inc.
@billswallow
Defeat your undead through investigation and preparation
Don't only focus on technology and capability
Personality, dispositions, and history matter
Knowledge and understanding
Unmask the undead for what they really are

40. Questions?
Flickr: BuzzFarmers
@billswallow

41. Contact Information Bill Swallow @billswallow
Scriptorium Publishing www.scriptorium.com info@scriptorium.com
@billswallow